Happy Birthday Gracie!
Our puppy Gracie turns one today! On September 18, 2025, she came into this world with her littermates. Two months later, she came into our lives. It didn’t take long for her to make her way into our hearts, and now she has permanent residence there.
It was a big adjustment to have a puppy in a more contained living space. We downsized from a house to an apartment less than a year before bringing her home. That’s a lot of energy in a small area. We live on the second floor, so in those early weeks, our legs really got in shape with the frequent trips up and down the stairs as we worked on potty training her. She has done very well with potty training. She does sometimes like to play “hard to get” when it’s time to go out. It’s her little game in our space. But accidents on the floor are long over.
My arms have become more toned and stronger in these last ten months too. Puppies like to explore and sniff and pull this way and that way to see what is what. She’s an inquisitive and curious puppy, and we would be worried if she wasn’t. She does well on the leash too, and loves to go for walks and runs. If a squirrel, rabbit, or bird comes into view though, she takes off in their direction. She has settled in, and so have we. Read more about those early months in this post titled “Puppy Love.” Or this Substack post “A Puppy at 60.”
Gracie is very friendly and likes other dogs and pretty much all people. She wants to say hi, tail wagging like crazy. We have gotten numerous comments about how happy she is. She’s a little overenthusiastic at times, but we are making progress. She loves when she is boarded and gets puppy play time. She comes home exhausted after play, play, play. We are venturing more to our local dog park and trying some out on our travels. Oliver, our previous dog, wasn’t as social and was less interested in making connections. This has been a shift for us, and it is more my husband Darcy and I who need to work on our comfort level with Gracie around other dogs. We are learning to trust her, trust our own instincts, trust other dogs and their owners. Like we did with our own children though, we are always on the lookout for things and situations that could be harmful to her.
She chews on plenty of things she is allowed to chew on, and a few things she shouldn’t. It’s just stuff. Maybe I chew on some thoughts I shouldn’t chew on as much either. Thanks for the reminder Gracie.
“Gracie the Observer” also reminds me to just sit down from time to time. She and Darcy will tell you this is something I am not very good at some days. Just sit. Observe. Take in my surroundings. Generate some gratefulness. I am certainly grateful for Gracie and what she brings to our family and our days.
We chose the name Grace for our new puppy because we wanted the regular reminder to give ourselves, one another, and this world some grace each day. We know that grace, as we head into our sixties, will take on new meaning and depth. So Grace it is, but also Gracie Lou, Lou-Lou, Fru-Fru, and other nicknames.
I have gone from the farm girl who grew up with the animals being outside, to the cancer patient who “grew up” with our first dog Oliver, to the woman with six decades of lived experience now looking forward to continuing to grow with grace and with Gracie. The wisdom in grace. The wisdom of Gracie.
Happy Birthday Gracie! And thank you!
